Which of the following statement(s) is/are true for p-type semiconductors?
(A) Holes are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants.
(B) Electrons are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
(C) Holes are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
(D) Electrons are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct answer is (C) only.

Step-by-step Explanation:

To understand why statement (C) is the only true statement for p-type semiconductors, let us examine the properties of p-type semiconductors:
1. Doping Process: A p-type semiconductor is created by doping an intrinsic (pure) semiconductor, such as Silicon (Si) or Germanium (Ge), with trivalent impurities. Trivalent atoms (like Boron, Aluminium, Indium, or Gallium) have three valence electrons in their outermost shell.
2. Creation of Holes: When a trivalent atom replaces a tetravalent semiconductor atom in the crystal lattice, its three valence electrons form covalent bonds with three neighboring semiconductor atoms. The fourth bond remains incomplete, leaving a vacancy or a "hole" that can accept an electron. This vacancy acts as a positive charge carrier.
3. Majority and Minority Carriers: Because each trivalent dopant atom introduces a hole, the concentration of holes ($n_h$) becomes much larger than the concentration of thermally generated free electrons ($n_e$). Therefore, in a p-type semiconductor, holes are the majority charge carriers and electrons are the minority charge carriers.

Now let us evaluate the given statements:
• Statement (A): Claims "Holes are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants." This is incorrect because holes are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
• Statement (B): Claims "Electrons are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants." This is incorrect because holes (not electrons) are the majority carriers in p-type semiconductors.
• Statement (C): Claims "Holes are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants." This matches our analysis perfectly and is therefore correct.
• Statement (D): Claims "Electrons are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants." While electrons are indeed minority carriers, the dopants used are trivalent, not pentavalent. Thus, this statement is incorrect.

Hence, only statement (C) is true, making (C) only the correct choice.